Knowledge/power and practice: A Foucauldian interpretation of nineteenth century classrooms

In this research I develop an interpretation of Michel Foucault's analysis of power/knowledge and use that interpretation to investigate the practices found in certain classrooms in the United States during the nineteenth century. In this investigation I determine the manner in which the practices involved with teaching children shape the boundaries for their understanding of the world and actions within the world. In particular, I examine practices that provide the foundations for understandings and actions that are either emancipatory or controlling. This research takes place in two phases. First, I critique and elaborate upon Foucault's analysis of power/knowledge as it relates to education. In this analysis I determine the strains of thought which inform Foucault's thought and delineate the voids and contradictions left in Foucault's analysis of knowledge/power. Second, I use that analysis to interpret a collection of firsthand accounts of schooling practices from 1820-1880 in free or low cost schools in all sections of the United States.